Arena
Arena is a live album by Duran Duran, released by Capitol-EMI on 12 November 1984. The album was reissued on CD format with two bonus tracks on 1 June 2004. About the album To cap off the band's highly successful [[Duran Duran - (1983) - The Sing Blue Silver Tour|1983/1984 Sing Blue Silver World Tour]], EMI released a live album, which according to the sleeve was "Recorded Around The World 1984". The album featured most of the band's big hits in a live environment, as well as some album tracks from Rio (1982) and Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), and a new studio track "The Wild Boys" produced by Nile Rodgers, who had previously remixed the single "The Reflex". "The Wild Boys" single was issued with six separate covers in the UK - one featuring each individual band member and one of the band collectively. At the time of release, critics were suspicious that the mix was too polished for a live album, as most of the audience was muted. The unique song arrangements and adlibs like "Is anybody hungry?" indicated that this was indeed a live effort. Other criticism arose from the omission of some of the band's biggest songs like "The Reflex", "Girls on Film" and "Rio". However, Arena still managed to peak at #6 in the UK (November 24) and #4 in the US (December 1) The album was eventually re-issued on 1 June 2004 and included two bonus tracks "Girls on Film" and "Rio". Arena would be the only full-length live Duran Duran release until the 2003 Encore series of official bootleg recordings, taken from shows in Japan and the West Coast of the USA. Further events Capitalising on the band's success, EMI turned the album's release into a multimedia event. The concert film Arena (An Absurd Notion) on long form VHS was quickly followed by The Making of Arena. These videos featured Duran Duran performing live in Oakland, California between April 12/15 1984 while Milo O'Shea reprised his role as the evil Dr. Durand Durand from Barbarella (1968). The Arena video also featured the extended video for "The Wild Boys", as directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was meant to be a teaser for a full-length feature film of the same name, based on the 1971 novel The Wild Boys: A Book Of The Dead by William S. Burroughs. The film was never made. Also released during this period for the Arena multi-media event was the "Duran Duran Game - Into The Arena", a series of collectible cards, the tour documentary Sing Blue Silver and a book about the tour featuring photography by Denis O'Regan, also called Sing Blue Silver. Both the Sing Blue Silver documentary and the Arena film were reissued on DVD in 2004; the Arena DVD features The Making of Arena as an extra. Other live material Two further live cuts from the 1984 world tour were released as B-sides to singles in 1984: "New Religion (Live in LA)" on the North American single for "The Reflex" and the live "Cracks in the Pavement (1984)" on "The Wild Boys". "New Religion" was recorded 9 February at The Forum in Los Angeles, and "Cracks in the Pavement" was recorded at the 5 March 1984 show at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, at the same concert where the video for "The Reflex" was filmed. Track listing #"Is There Something I Should Know?" - 4:34 #"Hungry Like the Wolf" - 4:01 #"New Religion" - 5:37 #"Save A Prayer" - 6:12 #"The Wild Boys" - 4:18 #"The Seventh Stranger" - 5:05 #"The Chauffeur" - 5:23 #"Union of the Snake" - 4:09 #"Planet Earth" - 4:31 #"Careless Memories" 4:07 2004 reissue bonus tracks: #"Girls on Film" - 5:59 #"Rio" - 5:55 Singles *"The Wild Boys" (October 1984) *"Save A Prayer" (Live from the Arena) (January 1985) Personnel Duran Duran are: *Simon Le Bon - vocals *John Taylor - bass guitar *Andy Taylor - guitar *Nick Rhodes - keyboards *Roger Taylor - drums With: *Andy Hamilton - saxophone *Raphael Dejesus - percussion *B.J. Nelson - backing vocals *Charmaine Burch - backing vocals Also credited (live material): *Jason Corsaro - engineer and mixer *George Tutko - engineer *Duran Duran - producer Also credited ("The Wild Boys"): *Nile Rodgers - producer *Jason Corsaro - engineer and mixer *Sleeve produced by Assorted Images *Outer photography by Mike Owen See also *Duran Duran discography *Discography 4: Arena Category:Duran Duran albums Category:Live albums Category:Arena